I'm in London...

Well... not so much ME... I'm in the colourful Northern suburbs of Melbourne. But you can now buy my patterns and kits (and fondle hat and purse samples made by me) at Kleins in Soho - 5 Noel St, London W1F 8GD - Phone 020 7437 6162.

Kleins also stock every sort of haberdashery you'd ever be likely to need (and some you never knew existed). Just ring the bell and pop in to see Raymond. Tell him Nikki sent you!

Failing proximity to London, keep your eye on the developing online Kleins store...

Many thanks to my sewing buddy for delivering the samples on her holiday. You're a treasure!

Welcome to Sunny Melbourne!

We've had a visitor these last few days - all the way from Antarctica.

An icy blast to make us forget any thoughts we may have had of Spring and sunshine. A damn good excuse to wrap up in layers and layers of wool and wear my "Tara" brooch (by the super-talented Sam Beardon from Galway, Ireland).

The wee girl had an unexpected day out with an auntie today. I sat in front of the computer, drank tea (while it was hot) and felt cosy. A day's work was done and I didn't notice the weather.

And I've nothing to show you for it.

It's a family affair... or at least a family project.

It all began with a grubby old 2-seater couch, which the man of the house decided to cut down and use to construct a comfy reading chair.... He thought at first that perhaps if he turned the old covers inside-out that it might have some sort of "recycled" charm...

I thought "NOT".

The wee girl and I made a Thursday evening trip to the Ikea fabric department. It took so long for me to choose and cut fabrics that the poor out-past-bedtime child requested the trolley to sit in as she played the touch-screen computer games (Spotlight could learn a thing or two there, I think...). I just kept stacking up the fabric cushion she was sitting on.

Last weekend we did a trial run on the wee one's mini armchair (which was beyond embarrassing with its toddler grub and god-only-knows-what stains....and it was mauve - not really our girl at all!). I sewed, he stapled. Team-work.

It fits right in with her colourful corner of the studio.... and all the other Ikea furniture, tents and toy-boxes...

Lessons were learned on this project........particularly about taking care with directional prints.

And a start was made on the big chair.

While the man of the house watched the big football game on Saturday, the girl and I went to the studio and made the covers. Today we stapled (the man of house is usually chief staple-gunner but did something to his back which meant that I had to take over).

So it's a little bit wonky in parts... a bit puckered in others. I won't be asking any opinions from furniture-making friends. But it's cheerful.

And it does the job perfectly.

Now I want to paint the walls.

Wrapped... and rapt.

I'm SO HAPPY!

As the mother of a sewing studio kid, I've been LIVING for this stage of development...

It gave me the half-hour I needed to finish this large Wrap bag...

...with that o-ring variation I did on the Small Wrap. I used two XL o-rings on each side of the strap (and Ikea fabric).

So now I can show you the (Empress Woo by Robyn Pandolf) wrap I made on Saturday. ( I think I saw some of this beautiful fabric still at GJ's last week. I bought mine a while ago).

...with it's super-wide weight-distributing grown-on shoulder strap.

... And I HAVE to share a story - told to me by a grown-up only-child-of-a-seamstress. When she was a small child, the only child of a seamstress was kept busy with colour-sorting buttons ..and seed beads (!) while her mother worked.

So... it appears that Melbourne isn't the centre of the crafty universe after all!

We sometimes forget.

Exciting things happen in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, too.

If you're in that area this weekend you should check out the Mountain Makers Market at Glenbrook Hall - details here. If you're somewhere else in the world, the Mountain Makers blog has loads of Etsy links to follow up....
This purse is by the very talented Kirrily. (Just look at all those teeny tiny stitches!!). She'll be there - with loads of other talented crafties.

Better...?

A few yo-yo's later....

And I'm still not sure. I think these fabrics work better in different proportions.

Leah, the wee girl and I are all hoping to be better soon, too... A dreaded lurgie has descended upon the studio.

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Oh, and if you're in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne and looking for a (FREE) school holiday program for sewing, look here....

Wrapped

So... like I said... I've been sewing.

Gorgeous large scale prints like these (from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market range) inspire me to make large-scale bags. This is the Small Wrap.

And this is the inside of the Small Wrap.... A zippered pocket on one side and a compartment pocket on the other. Colour and prints all over the shop.

This is the Small Wrap with o-rings in the straps (instead of the usual "grown on" strap). The fabric is Wildwood by Erin McMorris.

The straps are cut off, bagged out and folded over the o-rings, and then a normal shoulder strap is attached to the other side of the ring.

I stitched the strap right through to the outside of the bag (if you look closely at the bottom of the photo below you can see the stitches). You could choose to disguise the stitches with something decorative. I chose not to because I kind-of like them....

This Tina Givens floral was teamed with plain (Ikea!) fabric and a spot of rustic stitchery by yours truly.

The small wrap is a super-comfy shoulder bag that wraps flat around the body with a wide strap. It's quick to make and you can carry loads in it. A more stylish alternative to the usual market shopping bag.....

It's a bird..... it's a plane....

It's SUPERFROG! ...with a blurry face to protect her true identity. Superheroes are shy like that! (And they often wear lumpy hair ornaments and plaits under their skin-tight helmet cap things...).

At 11am on Friday I was rummaging through GJ's spangly remnants. At 1pm that day, Superfrog made an appearance at the kindergarten fancy dress party. In between we had lunch.

(Needless to say, not a lot of hemming - or indeed patternmaking - was involved in the construction of this costume).

There were lots of princesses, fairies and pirates at the party... but only ONE Superfrog! For a kid who watches way-hey too much TV (!!), she sure has a pretty original way of thinking. Cracks me up.

Flickr Favourites

Blue Bag Of Happiness by
Melanie Gray Augustin

I just saw this in my Flickr group.... Made by the very clever Melanie from Kimono Reincarnate.

Melanie makes all sorts of gorgeous things out of to-die-for Japanese textiles. Pop over to her blog for more eye-candy and news of where you can buy her creations.

Check out the pool of photos made using my patterns for LOADS of ideas and inspiration from many talented people! If you have photos to share, please join the Flickr group or send them in to us!

Flex it

After too many requests for these flex frames, I finally ordered some in... ummm... a few weeks ago and forgot to blog it.

Sorry - it was the same week I forgot the kindergarten pick-up time. Needless to say, my one and only child, light of my life etc... wasn't the only thing that was forgotten. I had a case of the too-much-on-my-plates and was coming down with a bad dose of the oops-I-forgot-to-take-a-break-after-Sydneys. (I think some people call it the beginnings of burn out...?)

Anyhoo - you can now buy these flex frames from us. $3.75 each. CODE: FLEX90.

In the meantime, I've started taking a smidge more time to relax. A pledge to swim once a week and do a few yoga stretches each morning (with a child using me as a tunnel or climbing frame...hmmm...) is a good start. (I'm blogging this so I feel compelled to stick to it!). After four years of being a complete sloth, my former strength and flexibility is nothing but a distant memory - but I'm starting to tap back into the mind-space... and it's good.

Picture Uploaded to Flickr February 3 2007 by Eric Lon

And I'm sewing - too busily to think to take blog photos!

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Oh, did someone mention a website that needs a whole lot of writing and editing...? I'm not putting any more stress-inducing deadlines on it. I'll let you know when it's done.

Itchin' to start stitchin'

A friend is expecting her baby to arrive any minute.

And I have loads of really cute fabric, a few Ikea hand-towels and a bias tape maker.

Gosh, I even have a pattern....

I've been up since dawn - like a kid on xmas morning - having negotiated a WHOLE DAY to sew....

And the man of the house is having a sleep-in! Unfortunately that's part of the deal. I'm marooned here until he wakes up.

If you want to win a bib made from my Fabulous Fifties Bib pattern, head on over to Solomon Sewing and go in the giveaway.

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Oh, and Nikki's having a giveaway too... You could win this book.

Hooked

Teeny tiny hooks...

We've been having supply issues with our usual small swivel hooks, so I got these in as a temporary stop-gap.
I think I love them. They make the sweetest little detachable straps.

The hooks are available in packs of 4 for $3.95, 10 for $9.40 or 20 for $17.35.
I'm not sure if I got the colour balance the way I wanted it on this Chunky purse, but I'm going to keep working on it. I need to find a colour to bring the two prints together. Thinking yo-yos or buttons... hmmmm. I'll get back to you on that.


I have plans to lock myself in my sewing cave tomorrow. I need to restore a bit of balance on the computer-to-sewing machine front. Restore a bit of faith in my ability to create. Have some time to let my brain free-wheel... recharge.

I also have a bit of (..ahem...) fabric to use.

You GO, girls!

I don't have time to write a blog post right now.... but I think you should all look over here to see what these gorgeous girls are up to. Exciting new Aussie craft business.

Did somebody mention a sale...?

In fact, Lara did. She emailed me with links, the evil woman.... she heard a whisper that I'd broken my fabric diet and sent word of sales to tempt me!

I'm thinking of sending her a bill for another lovely pack of fabric from Above All Fabric.

...including these SUPER CUTE Robert Kauffman kid's prints. I'm not sure if I'll ever make anough bibs to work through the stash I have already, but I couldn't resist.

A big box from Quilt Home...

...including this gorgeous range - BasicGrey / Urban couture by Moda.

I'm so sorry I didn't get a dress length of this print (below) because it's now GONE from the shop. Such a shame - it would have looked lovely in my "one day to be made into a dress" stash.....


I can't thank/blame Lara for this lot, below. I think I could possibly blame Felicity for forcing me to bookmark the page months ago (when she mentioned it casually in a blog post and it looked a bit exciting). I couldn't POSSIBLY accept responsibility....

These are Hip Fabric delights... I'm particularly in love with this peacock one -

from PROUD by Keri Beyer for In The Beginning Fabrics.

And yesterday I popped in to GJ's to drop off some patterns and saw this. $5 per metre and perfect for little summer dresses for my girl. I'm making plans to go back to GJ's for a big knit-fabric-fest when I have more time to dig through the treasure trove in the remnant warehouse out the back.

I do believe there's a parcel (or ... ummmmm...two?) of fabric yet to arrive.... Can I still blame Lara or do I have to admit to a bit of an uncontrolled binge?

My name is Nikki and I'm a fabriholic.

How do you like your purse...?

Yep - despite it sounding like soup or dog food - that's what I called it.... and I didn't even ask anyone what they thought. Just named it and printed it....

Well... printed 15 copies before the new printer decided it didn't want to play anymore. 10 copies are off to a new stockist in London this week, so until Mr Fuji-Xerox comes to fix or replace his wayward child, we have 5 copies to sell to those who want them...

I've rejigged the basic square pattern instructions quite a bit (can never leave well enough alone, me...). I've incorporated a few new purse frame tricks (discovered while working on the Barrel Purse) into the instructions and re-worked all the photos and diagrams for the new purse shape.

The Chunky purse pattern itself has a wider base than the other 200mm pattern, which balances the chunkiness of the frame and the big ball kiss-clasp.

The kit contains the pattern, instruction booklet, frame, interfacing and piping cord. You can use almost any weight fabric - you just need to adjust which fusible wadding to add (or not) to give the right amount of structure to the purse.

CODE: PFK200C

$29.70

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We should have more printed by the end of the week. In the meantime, we have FIVE....

EDITED TO ADD - The lovely printer fix-it guy came and worked his magic. We now have as many copies of this pattern as we care to print!

Before and After

I had great intentions of documenting the Bag in a Day class yesterday....

I took a photo of the snack table....Mmm... blackforest Tim Tams, Coconut Macaroons (Safeway's finest...!), Blue and White Castello cheese with spiced pear paste (it IS all about the food, you know...?!).

...And then my camera battery died. By the time I had a fleeting realisation that the recharger would have worked its magic, the class was over and a few bags had already left the room.

Distracted again (!!), I then only remembered it again after EVERYONE had left the room....

This is what one of the tables looked like after it was all over....

...and this is the floor.

You're just going to have to believe me - the bags were GREAT!


A quick note on classes. We're totally booked for all classes except a new Patternmaking for Bags we've scheduled. It's still worth going on a waiting list for any classes you're interested in because we sometimes get late cancellations and waiting-list people often get a place. I also sometimes schedule extra classes to cater to overflowing waiting lists (these are not usually advertised - they just fill up!).

I'll also have to start looking at next year's calendar very soon....